St. Thomas More Knights’ star Reese Morris (right) turns a corner in high gear during his Triple A No. 2-ranked team’s January home contest against Coquitlam’s Centennial Centaurs. The Knights are one of many teams thriving within the new four-tiered configuration which has been adopted this season within the ranks of B.C. senior boys basketball. (Photo – Jason Lang, Burnaby Now)

SURREY — No one can predict if we’re in store for the best series of B.C. senior boys basketball championship games ever when two straight weeks of provincial tournaments in four different tiers tips off next week at the Langley Events Centre.

But what seems fairly certain is that taken on the whole, between the Single, Double, Triple and now Quad A tiers, there won’t have been a better overall body of games (128 in total) played at the provincials than there will be this season.

The reason?

After years of debate, the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association finally decided to add an extra tier this season, and to understand just how it has streamlined the competitive landscape, it’s akin to doubling the amount Tim Hortons drive-through windows for the morning rush.

“Now, the greatest thing about having four tiers,” says Brad Thornhill, the head coach of North Vancouver’s Triple A No. 5-ranked Sutherland Sabres, “is that they are all about the same size.”

It sounds simple, but it’s a huge step forward.

Last season, 103 schools competed at what was then the largest tier, Triple A. This year, the largest tier, Quad A, has 68 schools. Although there are four fewer provincial berths available this year (16 as opposed to 20), there are 35 fewer schools competing for those spots.

And when you apply similar math right down the ladder, the results are generally the same. Triple A has 63 teams, Double A has 62 and Single A, the only tier to see an increase (plus-six) has 71.

The bottleneck of teams has been relieved because more teams have a chance to fight for a berth to a provincial tournament within their tier. And with that comes the kinds of positives that help grow the game.

“My sense of it, is that the long-term effect is that you will have more teams interested,” says Nick Day, head coach of Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Dragons, a program which was a contender to make provincials at the highest tier in old model, but this season, in its move to the new Triple A, opened back in December as the preseason No. 1-ranked team. It currently sits at No. 4.

“Before, the higher echelon teams (at the top tier) would fight for the provincials, but so many other teams didn’t really have a legitimate shot. That led to less interest from coaches, less commitment from players, and just general disinterest.

“Now,” he continues, “I don’t think you’ll see as many blowouts, and generally, there is more of a light at the end of the tunnel.”

There is also more talk of parity than ever before, and that extends across the board, including the new Triple A, which many call, for all intents and purposes, the new tier.

“This has been about kids having an opportunity to compete for something, and within that, hopefully we create new rivalries,” says Aaron Mitchell, head coach of Burnaby’s No. 2-ranked St. Thomas More Knights, a program that like Sutherland and Fleetwood Park, seems to have found its perfect fit at Triple A. “When I was a player at Terry Fox, my only goal was to win the Triple A (then highest-tiered) title. We all thought less of Double A. But being an adult, being 36 now, you realize that it is about everyone competing for titles, and creating memories along the way.”

Mitchell, in fact, has already helped kick start the new rivalries.

The Knights’ annual Chancellor Invitational, through the 1980s recognized as the premier invitational for the top tier, has quickly become a gathering place for the best of Triple A, this past January bringing eight Top 10 Triple A teams together.

“I was there and you could just feel the excitement in the air,” says Paul Eberhardt, who has won it all at the highest tier, placed second at the second-highest tier, and this season has a chance to win it all at the third-highest tier, all as the head coach of Richmond’s Double A No. 3-ranked R.C. Palmer Griffins.

And there is also the fact that all four B.C. boys titles will be decided at the Langley Events Centre.

“I think if you said to the Triple A schools that they would play for a provincial title in a high school gym, it would take a lot of the lustre off of it,” said Day. “This way everyone gets an equal piece, and that leads itself to kids being happier at their schools. And things like that might help cut down on player movement.”

Bottom line, there are more schools in it to win it. And that can never be understated.

“For the first time in school history we have been in the Top 10 all year long,” says Thornhill of his Sabres. “We also won the provincial (Triple A) boys soccer title this season. It’s great because kids suddenly start to realize that it can happen at their school, and when you have that belief, it can change the culture of your entire sports program.”

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Head of the Class 2014

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